Electronic commerce publications and the implications for research quality output in Australia

Australian universities and academics will soon see a major change in the way research is reported and funded. It is expected that by 2008, according to the most recent timetable (Bishop 2006), the Research Quality Framework (RQF) will be implemented. The result of the announcement has been an increased activity within universities focusing on the proposed criteria. The proposed RQF will seek to have research assessed according to quality and impact. Part of both quality and impact relates to where research is published. For academics it will be increasingly important to target high quality journals if the research is to be rated as high quality. The question this raises for Information Systems academics is where do we publish for maximum impact? The Information Systems (IS) field is diverse with researchers working in many areas and a publication outlet for one area may not be relevant for another. One area where many Australian IS researchers have focused their research interest is the field of electronic commerce (e-commerce). The research reported in this paper identified the publication outlets that would be regarded as amongst the highest quality for researchers wishing to publish e-commerce research. The authors analysed e-commerce research papers by Australian researchers published in the period 2000 to 2005. The results describe where Australian researchers are publishing in this field. The paper also provides guidance to those working in the e-commerce field on which journals and conferences to target to ensure their work rates highly in terms of the RQF.<br /

E-Commerce Research in Australia

Published research in the area of electronic commerce has increased several fold in recent years. Australian researchers have participated actively in this research field. An emphasis on quality has prompted us to review the publications in the area of electronic commerce. This paper reports on research, that used a framework developed by Scornavacca et al. (2005), to examine papers published in the leading, relevant journals and conferences over the period 2000 to 2005. Analyses of papers in the electronic commerce area, published during this period, reflects a number of trends in terms of research outlets, approaches, and methods used. The analyses presented here invite a comparative analysis by Scandinavian researchers in ecommerce. The Scandinavian research community represents an appropriate environment against which to benchmark the Australian research outputs. It is our hope that the analyses in this paper will lead to mutual learning and collaboration between researchers in both contexts

Cybernetics and the agility question

The ability to sense and respond effectively to fluctuations in an environment is the fundamental problem addressed by cybernetics. When applied to the context of the organizational IT function, agility denotes the capacity of the IT function to perceive &quot;signals&quot; from its internal and external environments, to interpret these, and respond appropriately. The processing of such signals requires the selection and filtering of information to drive decision-making for response in a timely way. The challenge for the IT function is processing an overwhelming collection of signals, in un-standardized formats, and from overlapping sources, that tends to overload decision-makers. Informed by a cybernetic model, we studied how the IT function enables agility. We found evidence (1) that the more mature the policy processes of the IT function, the more the IT function will create agility in information systems; (2) The more mature the intelligence processes of the IT function to look outside the organization, the more the IT function will create agility in information systems and; (3) The more mature the control processes of the IT function that focus on the current use of information systems, the more the IT function will create agility in information systems.<br /

Other-Settings Generalizability in IS Research

This paper presents a simple conceptualization of generalization, called other-settings generalization, that is valid for any IS researcher who claims that his or her results have applicability beyond the sample where data were collected. An other-settings generalization is the researcher’s act of arguing, based on the representativeness of the sample, that there is a reasonable expectation that a knowledge claim already believed to be true in one or more settings is also true in other clearly defined settings. Features associated with this conceptualization of generalization include (a) recognition that all human knowledge is bounded, (b) recognition that all knowledge claims—including generalizations—are subject to revision, (c) an ontological assumption that objective reality exists, (d) a scientific-realist definition of truth, and (e) identification of the following three essential characteristics of sound other-settings generalizations: (1) the researcher must clearly define the larger set of things to which the generalization applies; (2) the justification for making other-settings generalizations ultimately depends on the representativeness of the sample, not statistical inference; (3) representativeness is judged by comparing key characteristics of the proposition being generalized in the sample and target population. The paper concludes with the recommendation that future empirical IS research should include an explicit discussion of the other-settings generalizability of research findings

IDENTIFYING CAPABILITES FOR THE IT FUNCTION TO CREATE AGILITY IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS

In this paper, we identify the necessary capabilities of the IT function to create agility in existing information systems. Agility is the ability to quickly sense and respond to environment perturbations. We contrast the agility perspective from a widely used industry framework with research perspectives on agility in the IS literature. We suggest Beer’s Viable System Model (VSM) is a useful meta-level theory to house agility elements from IS research literature, and apply VSM principles to identify the capabilities required of the IT function. Indeed, by means of a survey of 34 organisations, we confirm that the meta-level theory better correlates with reported agility measures than existing practice measures do on their own. From a research perspective, the incorporation of the VSM mechanism helps to explain ‘why’ the IT function is capable of creating agility. From a practical perspective of ‘how’, the findings point to a new set of capabilities of the IT function for future versions of the industry frameworks to enable agility

Applying King et al.\u27s taxonomy to frame the IS discipline\u27s engagement in green IS discourse

This paper considers how the IS discipline can engage with discourse on the institutions and their interventions which influence and regulate green IS innovation. To consider possible responses, we apply King et al.&rsquo;s (1994) taxonomy, based on Institutional Theory, to frame a research agenda to guide future exploration and debate on the interventions to facilitate green IS innovation. Through the application of the taxonomy, we derive several pertinent questions for the discipline to consider as part of this debate. We conclude that the IS discipline can, and indeed should, play a more prominent role both through traditional responses (e.g., descriptive studies of green IS methodologies, organisational best practice, maturity models, etc.), but also through more active engagement in the form of participation and advocacy in shaping future green policy and regulation.<br /

Communicating Content Through Configurable Media

We studied how project groups in a pharmaceutical organization configure a new Web-based communication medium to communicate project content. The project groups are geographically dispersed and operate in different time zones. In such environments, synchronous or geographically bounded modes of communication (e.g., face to face meetings, telephone) are not always viable options. As such, computer-based communication media become surrogate conduits for day-to-day project communication and exchange of project-related content. In the study, content communicated via the Web-based medium varied between different projects groups in the organization. To explain these variations, we develop a theoretical framework based on genre theory and augment this with perspectives from media richness theory. We illustrate how the augmented framework can explain the variations in communication within two project groups. We find that substantive medium use is likely when there is a fit between an institutionalized communication genre, perceived nature of content, and medium configuration. When there is a poor fit between genre, content and medium, we find evidence that communicators seek to achieve a better fit by manipulating one of these three constructs. We also outline some practical implications for the configuration of Web-based media that support dispersed project groups

Applying King et al.’s taxonomy to frame the IS discipline’s engagement in green IS discourse

This paper considers how the IS discipline can engage with discourse on the institutions and their interventions which influence and regulate green IS innovation. To consider possible responses, we apply King et al.’s (1994) taxonomy, based on Institutional Theory, to frame a research agenda to guide future exploration and debate on the interventions to facilitate green IS innovation. Through the application of the taxonomy, we derive several pertinent questions for the discipline to consider as part of this debate. We conclude that the IS discipline can, and indeed should, play a more prominent role both through traditional responses (e.g., descriptive studies of green IS methodologies, organisational best practice, maturity models, etc.), but also through more active engagement in the form of participation and advocacy in shaping future green policy and regulation

Understanding the role of social media monitoring in generating external intelligence

Social media data are becoming increasingly critical for businesses to capture, analyse, and utilise in a timely manner. However, the unstructured and distributed nature and volume of this information makes the task of extracting useful and practical information challenging. Given the dynamic evolution of social media and social media monitoring, our current understanding of how social media monitoring can help organisations to create business value is inadequate. As a result, there is a need to study how organisations can (a) extract and analyse social media data related to their business (Sensing), and (b) utilise external intelligence gained from social media monitoring for specific business initiatives (Seizing). This study uses a qualitative approach with a multiple embedded case study design to understand the phenomenon of social media monitoring and its outcome for organisations. Anticipated contributions are presented.<br /